New technology advances developed for wild rice producers at Saskatchewan Polytechnic are nearly complete
After cutting across the water against a blustery wind, an airboat drew onto the sand of the Saskatoon Water Ski Club boat dock, driven by a propeller and engine so loud it eliminated all nearby traffic noise.
This airboat is a prototype, featuring a purple stripe and white lettering along the hull that proclaims it as an applied research project from Saskatchewan Polytechnic. It is an improved wild rice harvester intended to be more economical for producers in northwestern Saskatchewan.
Wild rice is not thought of as a typical Saskatchewan crop, but the province is a leading producer in Canada. The shallow lakes and slow rivers in or near Beauval, Beaver River, ÃŽle-Ã -la-Crosse and La Loche are perfect for it.
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“The only similarities are the problems,” said Chris Thompson, project lead and program head for Sask Polytech’s agricultural equipment technician program. “Everything else, of course, is different. We don’t have combines that float for grain or canola, but the problems of it being too tough, too hot, too dry, too windy are all the same, so that kind of got us intrigued (in the project).”
The harvester project started in 2020, when Thompson had to make room in his shop so a three-dimensional scan could be done on a boat. Now it’s a partnership between Sask Polytech, the Gabriel Dumont Institute and the NWC Wild Rice Company, as well as between these institutions and wild rice producers.
Major development came in 2023, following $400,000 in funding from PrairiesCan. The first operational prototype set sail in October 2023.
Thompson and his team expect to test two prototypes in the coming harvest: the one demonstrated June 24 and one with the same dimensions but a superior engine. The second machine will have up to 120 horsepower compared to the initial boat’s 56. The end goal is to design a modular boat that northern communities can fabricate themselves.
“What we’re trying to do is position a community with enough skills, and the training course that we’ve got other funding for is building on those skills,” said Thompson.
“We want to be able to set this boat up in a modular way where they could build the majority of the components themselves and assemble boats.”
The skills and training spaces are part of the partnership with the Gabriel Dumont Institute. With the two educational institutions working together, communities and producers can get knowledge and training to build boats where they’re needed.
The project arose from necessity, since most harvest equipment is over 30 years old. It’s common to see airboats retrofitted with whatever producers have around, using parts from light airplanes, snowmobiles and other machines.
“They’re falling apart. Some of them are being held together by a wire and a little bit of rivets, and they can’t find the parts,” said Napoleon Gardiner, an adviser with NWC and previous chief executive officer.
“We knew that when we started, so we knew that we needed to find a way of designing new boats for the future that could be affordable for the Indigenous producers up north.”
Fifteen producers were surveyed for their ideas on optimal boat design. They offered suggestions for length, width and power. However, the original form has not changed because the producers’ favourite choice is the flat-bottomed airboat.
While harvesting, the new design can achieve up to 12 km-h. Small changes were made to the hull. The Sask Polytech prototype is the same typical length but is slightly wider, as suggested by producers for improved productivity. The main adaptation was to the engine.
“As far as I know, there’s no other boats using a normal four-stroke, four-cylinder engine with a flat belt drive,” Thompson said. “This is a very agricultural designed drive system.”
The goal is to create an environmentally friendly unit that can be easily repaired without specialty parts.
“The triple groove belts could be bought in Prince Albert, the pulleys that drive it could be bought locally, so we really wanted to focus on parts that you didn’t have to go long distances to get. After COVID, we learned that that doesn’t always fall true with everything, but they’re very common parts,” said Thompson.
The new engine is made to industrial specifications. As such, it runs cleaner, starts quicker and won’t seize up. It is also placed beneath the seat, in front of the propeller.
“One of the cool things about this design is that when I first saw it, you have this snowmobile engine right behind your head and the high centre of gravity,” Thompson said. “It is light and powerful, but it makes it unstable.
“So, we wanted to go right in the bottom with the engine, counterbalance the weight on the front and (now) it’s very smooth and stable on the water.”
The position provides a greater counterweight to the hopper, especially when it’s full, allowing for heavier loads. The current hold average of a rice hopper is 120 to 150 pounds, explained Thompson, but with the low sitting engine, he expects the prototype to hold 250 to 300 lb.
NWC Wild Rice Company chief executive officer Celine Favreau said the Indigenous-owned enterprise works with 40 wild rice producers in Saskatchewan’s northwest. The main producers are First Nations and Metis.
Gardiner said the venture began in the 1930s when wild rice was brought to northern Saskatchewan to support the fur trade and muskrat production. The crop is native to the Great Lakes region, but Gardiner said it was gifted to northern First Nations from the Anishinaabe people.
Not long after the crops’ introduction, the wild rice industry began to commercialize. Indigenous people didn’t want to be left behind, and that was the beginning of NWC.
“We said together we will build the industry by renewing and refreshing mechanization like wild rice harvesters, by finding new markets across the world and how we look at the markets that cause the specific types of wild rice that will be asked for,” said Gardiner.
NWC decided to investigate processing needs and best practices, focusing on using the equipment and native environment.
“We looked at the research that needs to be done on the plant itself without looking at the molecule or genetic modification,” he said. “It needed to stay sacred. But we needed to maximize our knowledge of it, and the changing environment for the climate.”
